Category: General

General Interest and Topical Articles.

Domain and Hosting Renewal Advice

I’m prompted to write this after a recent experience with a client who ignored my once yearly invoice for Domain and Hosting renewal a little too long (one of many!). If you have a website then you will almost definitely get a yearly or monthly bill from either your hosting company or web designer for 2 things at least: Continue reading Domain and Hosting Renewal Advice

Business Startup Advice

Maybe I’m qualified to give business startup advice or maybe I’m not but here’s what’s worked for me so far!

I would highly recommend starting your own business, especially in the current climate. You know it’s unlikely you’ll ever be happy in your 9 to 5, doing the same thing day in day out and all for the benefit of someone else. Working for yourself means no more boss looking over your shoulder, no more restrictions on your time, no more journey times (if you can work at home!), no more repetition (self employment is never boring!). However you might also be saying goodbye to a regular wage and some security! Continue reading Business Startup Advice

Advertising in Leitrim

I’m running a new site www.AboutLeitrim.ie which aims to collect and display all kinds of Leitrim News from Property and Jobs to Entertainment and Local Services information. I hope that this site will become a great resource for anyone interested in Leitrim, living and doing business in it, or maybe considering a move here. It’s well on the way to achieving this. Continue reading Advertising in Leitrim

Average Web Design Costs UK and Ireland

Here’s an interesting statistical analysis of the average cost of having website work done in this part of the world, whether it be e-commerce, basic brochure with CMS or just a one pager:

www.thewebdesignblog.co.uk/web-resources/share-your-web-design-prices-anonymously

I’m glad to say I’m way below the average cost of a finished site and about the average for hourly rates!!

Website Contact Details Poll: Phone or Email?

Quick poll for those of you in business and who have a website displaying various different contact methods. I suppose it might depend on the business and product/service being sold but I find it increasingly difficult as a web designer to be constantly answering phone calls whether new inquiries or for support. I think its much more structured and efficient if I only let people email me as I can then run through emails systematically, prioritise them, have a record of what was said and keep everything nice and tidy as opposed to having to remember what was said on the phone or having to find scraps of paper where you’ve quickly scribbled down someones details or requests.

What do you think?

Ireland Hand it to France!? Poll

Wow, what a reaction to last night’s game! The Media, Twitter, Facebook, etc…all bursting at the seems with anti Henry and anti french sentiment. Is it justified? As usual Ireland go down in a blaze of glory and end up Bride’s maids. It always seems to be an unluckily conceeded goal or a shoot out loss or a bad refeering decision.

On this occasion I personally think we are showing ourselves to be bad losers and moaners and we’ve jumped on an easy reason for the ultimate failure of the qualifying campaign. Where were we in the first match in Dublin and where were we for all the other games!? And why didn’t we take some chances and nail the French when we had them on the ropes last night? The RTE panel got it right when they pointed out 2 things – 1. What if we had handled it? & 2. Henry didn’t plan to handle it, it was a reflex action…

What’s your opinion!?

Blogs Get Noticed!

I got a call from a journalist from the Sunday Times last week in relation to an article she was writing on IVF and Infertility in Ireland. She wanted a male orientated view and must have googled same (as journalists are known to do as part of their research!). Luckily enough I was one of the few men talking about infertility and men on my blog so I come up fairly high for related searches.

What I had written on my blog was obviously interesting and relevant enough for her to call me and do an impromptu interview for the feature. The article went out on Sunday the 27th and covered a full page with a huge photo of myself, my partner and our baby! And had she included a link back to the blog articles in question, it would have brought a lot of exposure to my site for nothing!

The moral of the story is that if you continue to supply your blog with interesting and relevant content you will get noticed and become a valuable resource for others.

Read the Times article here.